Efficient weight controls and checkweighing systems on bakery production lines are integral to meeting consumer expectations. To ensure compliance with net weight regulations, processors need to identify under or overweight packages. Daniel Shail, Applications Engineer at Fortress Technology Europe explains why this is so imperative.
By deploying smart checkweighers inline and at the end of a production line, processors prioritise and promote food safety, while simultaneously protecting their brand integrity. Additionally, weight controls help meet waste reduction targets, contributing to a more sustainable production process.
Global weight regulations are in place to safeguard consumers from receiving products that do not meet the specified weight requirements. If processors are not using ‘regulatory-approved’ weighing systems, or using them incorrectly, it can result in costly penalty fines. Notably, knowingly distributing underweight products in some regions could be deemed fraud.
To avoid litigation issues regarding weight, it is common practice for food plants to overfill packages. Yet, given the cost of ingredients, food commodities and packaging, overfilling is no longer considered a good or sustainable business practice.
Most global weight regulations follow three general rules:
- Average Weights System: The average weight of a product batch must not be below the nominal label weight on the package.
- Tolerable Negative Error (TNE): The proportion of packages falling below the defined error limits should be within a specified level, with no package short by more than twice the domestically defined tolerance table.
- Minimum Weight System: Products are packed according to the declared weight on the label. The weight of the product can be more, but not less than the declared weight. Each packed product is weighed and checked individually for compliance. As a result, this system is used less frequently and may result in higher packing costs.
Tolerance tables vary depending on the product type, packaging and weight. To help processors accommodate these variations, Fortress integrates defined tolerance tables into its Raptor Checkweigher software. This provides instant adherence to the regional legislative weight regulations.
INLINE PORTION CONTROL
Leaving weight checks until the final stage of processing could result in an entire consignment of baked goods being over or underweight, costing processors many hours in lost production time and thousands of Pounds or Euros in wasted product and packaging. For bakery plants especially, in-line checkweighing is a valuable part of the entire production process as it factors in how the characteristics of dough – which is a live product – changes minute-by-minute.
Usually connecting to automated dough dividers, if a piece of dough is under or overweight by as little as 0.5 grams, it will automatically be rejected. Digitised software can be utilised to communicate back to upstream portion control equipment in real time to adjust the position of cutting blades.
Another rationale for inline dough inspection is it allows the dough to further ferment, factoring in changes to the temperature and dough density prior to the proofing stage. This helps to mitigate the risk of a batch being out of tolerance before the baking process.
For example, a loaf may weigh 800 grams when baked, but in its raw state is 917 grams. If it is out of tolerance by just a few grams, dough can overspill and potentially spoil other loaves in the oven. Additionally, if several are overweight in a batch, there will be several underweight loaves too. This inline checkweighing principle can be applied to manage portion control on many processing lines, from pizza dough, to cakes, rolls and doughnuts.
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